Who We Are

Global Pungmul Institute is a community-based cultural and educational organization dedicated to developing and promoting traditional Korean cultural and performing arts and to nurturing youth leadership through participation in these arts, especially in the Korean percussion art form known as pungmul. GPI presents three programs/groups: the youth pungmul program and its ensemble SoriBeat, the adult pungmul program NoriBeat, and the professional musician group Rhythm Connections.

What We Do

Traditional cultural and performing arts are dynamic components of contemporary life and are essential to both local communities and global networks of societies. Global Pungmul Institute engages with multiple communities across the globe to develop and promote traditional Korean cultural and performing arts and to nurture leadership among youth so as to increase cross-cultural understanding and improve the human condition.

GPI organizes Project UL-SSI-GU, which is an international project to celebrate the Liberation Day of Korea and the end of WWII on around August 15th over the world. In 2014, thirteen pungmul groups from eight different countries including USA, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, and Korea participated in the Project UL-SSI-GU 2014 by playing Korean drums in their own cities and for the Project in 2015, 22 teams from six different countries participated in the Project to the Liberation Day of Korea and the end of WWII.

GPI organizes an Annual Show related to pungmul: Korean Drumming and Dance Show ‘Dream Together’ in 2014, Pyeongtaek Nongak Show in 2015 at at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. GPI will make another show on April 30, 2016 at the Auditorium Theater, Regina Dominican High School.

GPI hosts an annual seminar series to introduce diverse ethnic music and also to discuss about youth identity: “Korean American Identify as a Catalyst for Change” in Winter 2014, “Ghanaian Music” in Summer 2015, and “Skill and Factors to Support Learning and College Success” in Winter 2015.

GPI participates in various community-based events and also provide workshops to promote Korean traditional culture. GPI was involved in more than 30 events last year and engaged with more than 3,000 people in 2015.